Collage, frottage, grattage

Collage

A technique of art production, where the artwork is made by assembling different forms together, creating a new whole in itself. It may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, different papers, portions of other artwork paintings or photographs, found objects of anything at all should the artist choose to use it. 

The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but the technique made a huge reappearance in the early 20th century as forms of art. The term itself was born from the French world for glue, "coller", coined by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the 20th century, when collage was becoming a distinctive part of modern art of the time. 

Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knide through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919. Hannah Höch.


Photomontage

Collage made from photographs, by cutting and joining a number of other photographs (or parts of). The final piece would sometimes be photographed, so to become a seamless print once more. Another technique is "combination printing", derived from the Victorian period. This is printing more than one negative on a single piece of print paper. 

Though with technology on the rise, today's digital collaging makes the process much easier and faster with programmes such as Photoshop. 

Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?, 1956. Richard Hamilton.



Frottage

When an artist takes a pencil/drawing tool, places paper over a textured surface and rubs the drawing tool to print the texture onto the paper. Developed by Ernst in 1925.

Pete, 2004. Roger Clark Miller.



Grattage

A surrealist technique, where paint (usually dry) is scraped off the canvas. First used by Max Ernst and Joan Miro. 

The Entire City, 1934. Max Ernst.